Some new and exciting developments in the brace arena!!! After getting a second opinion for Evan from Dr. Oetgen (who was awesome if you are ever in need of a pediatric orthopedic) at Children's Hospital, we have decided not to put Evan in braces right now. Dr. Oetgen drew us a very helpful table showing us that if your child has bowed legs, between 1 and 1 1/2 is when they will be at their most dramatically bowed. Between 1 1/2 and 2, they should start to move back toward "normal" in degree. He measured the degree of Evan's bow and concluded that his right leg had a 13 degree bow. Under 11 would be considered in the normal range. Had the degree been over 16, they would have started talking surgery that day just to give you an idea of the small range between normal and abnormal. Evan's bow falls smack dab in the middle. He said, "Evan could go either way in the next few months." We are supposed to go back in September to be re x-rayed. If Evan's bow degree goes higher, THEN we will try bracing. If, at that point, it starts to move toward 11 (or neutral) then we are done and Evan's leg will almost certainly correct themselves within 6 months from September. SO informative! I learned so much from Dr. Oetgen. He didn't talk down to us or try to sugar coat anything for the sake of the "dumb parents". He told us straight up and even broke out his protractor right there in the room to measure the degree right in front of us. I am beyond excited about this news and hope that we start to see some resolution in the next few months:o)
We did chat with Dr. Oetgen about Owen, even though he wasn't there with us. We all decided it was best to still put Owen in the AFOs even though based on Dr. Oetgen's table, age 4 is when knock-kneed children are the MOST knock-kneed. He is still toe walking and the braces are more to break his toe walking habit then anything. If we can break his habit with the braces within the next year, no worries. If he is still toe walking by age 5, we are to make an appointment with Dr. Oetgen and we may consider surgery to snip the tendon in the back of each foot. He would then be in casts for 6 weeks but upon having the casts removed, the problem should be resolved. Once again, we are thrilled to have information that we understand and to know what to expect from all this.
Owen was fitted for his AFOs yesterday at Hangar Medical Supply in Leonardtown. Our orthotic expert was wonderful with Owen. They actually had to cast Owen's legs right there in the room but then subsequently cut the cast off to send away so that his AFOs are specifically fitted to him. He was scared at first, but the lady working with us was wonderful and he quickly calmed down. He got to pick out the colors and decorations for his braces. He picked red and blue for his colors. Then he got to pick his decoration out and they actually had one with tools....hammers, screwdrivers, etc. He was so excited! We should receive our braces in the next 2-4 weeks (a little longer than I expected it to take) and then he will be in them for quite some time....until we feel that he has broken the toe-walking habit enough to try going without them. I'll post pics of his braces once we get them in.
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